


beyond the meadow

by StarlightStarwrites



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, but you want to, din is a dad, i just want din to tell me to go to bed, wrote this when i was tired, you dont know each other well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:13:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22796101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlightStarwrites/pseuds/StarlightStarwrites
Summary: you have a nice house. not large, but large enough for yourself and two ragged travelers with bounties on their heads. well, more like one and a half. besides, the one doesn't seem half bad.
Relationships: The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/Reader, The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/You
Kudos: 98





	beyond the meadow

You hear the boots on the stairs first. It doesn’t startle you despite the fact you can’t remember the last time you lived with someone. He’s at the landing now, noticing the faint light coming from the corner where you sit.

“Can’t sleep?” You ask him without looking up. You can see his helmet is on at the edge of your vision. You wonder if he had even bothered to try and sleep.

His feet scuff at the floor as he inches toward you. “No,” he finally answers. He stands at the border of the room, unsure as whether to enter. Sometimes his hesitance annoys you. This is one of those times. You wonder if somehow you scare him, or if he really just is that painfully polite.

Your legs are folded in front of you, halfway propped on the table as you lean back in your chair. The glowing holoprojector is flashing images in front of you. You switch the video back to the text you should have been reading.

“You?” he asks you gently, feeling as though he must be intruding. It’s your house after all, and he doesn’t know how long he’ll be welcome here.

You snort without humor. “Oh, I can sleep.” The words before you blur together, but you’re still forcing yourself to focus. You didn’t notice until now the night had shifted into the early hours in the morning. “I just told myself I’d finish this first.”

And then you had promptly gotten distracted. Finished a few other completely irrelevant things. Watched the holonet. For a few hours.

He moves closer, glancing at what you’re looking at and bends to sit in the chair at your side. “You write?” He asks the question like he genuinely wants to know. You’ve noticed he isn’t one to make small talk, but lately he’s been asking more about you. In return, he sometimes answers your questions.

You think maybe he feels bad.

You smile at this question. “Well, sometimes. This though...” you trail off thinking about what you want to tell him. “This is a project for someone else.” You shrug.

It’s almost a game between you now--telling each other something personal, but keeping it so vague neither of you know anything at all. You don’t want to open up to him, don’t want to get comfortable. You’ve had no problems with his presence in your home as of yet, but you’re sure he will leave. He’s lying low for now. And so are you, to an extent. You don’t want to break that.

“Were you planning on going out to the meadow?” You remember how he hesitated at the stairs. He probably wanted to sneak out, but not in front of you.

He starts a bit, turning to you. You wave it off, projector forgotten.

“Just cause I’m in my room doesn’t mean I’m asleep. I saw you out there the other night. It’s a nice place to be, especially at night.”

You’d gone out there often enough, just not since you had guests.

“There’s a place I like to go to actually,” you mention. You hadn’t wanted to share your sanctuary, but the longer he stayed, the more you think he needed it. Besides, when he left he wouldn’t even be on the planet. You’d have it to yourself again. “Have you seen the pond?”

He’s relaxed back into his chair now, calmed from his initial feeling of being caught. You know he’s probably thinking about how he sat in the field. When his hands had reached up to his helmet.

You’d looked away then. You wouldn’t have been able to see anything anyway, in the darkness, at that distance. But it had felt wrong.

“I...haven’t,” he says, and you think how perfect the spot would be for him.

“I can take you and the kid out there tomorrow if you want. It’s out farther, past the meadow. But it’s nice. You would enjoy it.”

He looks at you, visor revealing nothing. He thinks about how kind you are, how selfless you’ve been since he came here. You’ve offered your home, your food, your space. And all he brings is danger. He’s thought about leaving for a few days now. There hasn’t been much noise since the day he first met you, but he can’t help but worry. His clan of two hasn’t stayed anywhere for long, and certainly not in someone else’s home.

But each time he thinks of leaving, he can’t help but think he’s being insulting. You’ve given him so much, and he just wants to pay back the debt. He decided he’d have to stay until he did.

“I’m sure the kid would like that.” His debt to you only grows. “If it’s not any trouble.”

You blink slowly, smiling softly as you rest your cheek on your fist. “I’d certainly rather do that than this,” you say gesturing at the words in front of you. He doesn’t read them, doesn’t want to intrude. You look tired, he realizes, and part of him wants to usher you to bed as he does the kid.

You’ve been re-reading the same sentence, still not remembering what it says. The light is giving you a headache. You rub at your forehead before reaching over and shutting it down.

Darkness falls over the room. You never did turn on your lamp. “Oh,” you say.

You both get up at the same time, reaching out to find something. You hit cold beskar.

“Sorry, sorry,” you apologize quickly, then stumble over your chair as you try to pull away.

Hands on your upper arms steady you before you make things worse.

“I’ve got you.”

His voice makes you flush in the dark.

“Sorry,” you say again, before scolding yourself. “Thank you.”

You go to move again, away from his grip, but he pulls you closer.

“This way,” he says, and you realize he’s saved you from another fall.

“You can see?”

“Yeah.” His hands move so that he just has one between your shoulder blades. You hear tapping on metal. “Helmet.”

“In the _dark_?”

“It has infrared.” He answers so simply.

You _ooooh_ at the new information. “That is so _fancy_.” And you giggle.

He can tell just how tired you were. “Come on. Let’s get you to bed.” If you were paying more attention, you would have heard the smile in his voice.

You let him guide you back up the stairs, following close behind you to your room. Your eyes have adjusted just enough, and you reach to open the door, letting a little more light into the hallway from your open window.

“I think I’m gonna sleep in tomorrow,” you say, turning to him. You smile up at him. “Today, actually.”

He nods, letting his hand slide from your arm.

“You’re welcome to the kitchen in the morning. Whatever you need.”

“Thank you,” he says it earnestly. Indebted again.

“Goodnight.” You smile at him, sleepy but with warmth.

He leans against the door across from yours. His own. He smiles back at you.

“Goodnight.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this all in one go and at like 1 am. Forgive me. This is the only work I've written for our Mando but I would definitely be interested in doing more. I possibly have an idea for a series? We'll see. And, to be completely honest, I might consider taking requests. I post on tumblr at starlight-starwrites. Let me know what y'all think!


End file.
